


Up in the Air

by Lisettola



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Anxiety, Awkward Flirting, First Kiss, First Meetings, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Getting Together, M/M, Meet-Cute, Social Anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27743326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lisettola/pseuds/Lisettola
Summary: The skater then leaned comfortably in his seat, opening the book that he took out of his bag before packing it away and not paying much attention to what was happening around him.It was when the flight attendants were already checking the overhead lockers and counting the passenger that he saw out of the corner of his eye someone heaving and putting their luggage away next over his head, before slumping into the seat next to him.“Oh my god. Wow. I didn’t think I would actually make it!” the man next to him huffed between breaths. The Japanese man internally sighed, Well, goodbye extra space, he thought.
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri & Victor Nikiforov, Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov
Comments: 11
Kudos: 294





	Up in the Air

**Author's Note:**

> I just needed a good dose of fluff, not gonna lie. what's better than "a beautiful man is sitting next to me on the plane and I'm an anxious mess"? lol 
> 
> Thank you to my beta, the lovely @ZB_121, you are a gift <3

It was just the same as any other flight.

Yuuri was happy that he was finally able to visit Japan for a while, even if it was for a meeting with one of his sponsors and in Tokyo. It wasn’t his hometown, but at least he was back in the comfort of his own country. He traveled a lot for competition and saw many new places, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t nervous to be in the air.

He put his hand luggage in the overhead locker and sat down in his window seat.

He was one of the first passengers to settle down. Yuuri quietly watched the steady stream of people entering the plane, and hoped that none of them would sit next to him. It was a very long flight and sitting for over 13 hours next to a stranger didn’t sound appealing.

After a few minutes the steady influx slowed and Yuuri decided that maybe, just maybe, he would be lucky enough to have both of the seats for himself.

The skater then leaned comfortably in his seat, opening the book that he took out of his bag before packing it away and not paying much attention to what was happening around him.

It was when the flight attendants were already checking the overhead lockers and counting the passenger that he saw out of the corner of his eye someone heaving and putting their luggage away next over his head, before slumping into the seat next to him.

“Oh my god. Wow. I didn’t think I would actually make it!” the man next to him huffed between breaths. The Japanese man internally sighed,  _ Well, goodbye extra space,  _ he thought.

Yuury didn’t really feel comfortable talking with the stranger straight away, but he was polite enough to turn to briefly face the man to give him a sympathetic smile.

He did so but his smile turned into a flabbergasted expression when he realized who was sitting next to him.

The plane was already starting to slowly roll away from the gate when Victor Nikiforow turned towards him with his signature brilliant smile. Yuuri’s book fell ungraciously from his hands, making a loud thud on the plane floor.

“Hi! Oh…! Your book fell. Here…” Victor Nikiforov had leaned down with a hand between his knees to grab it and give it back, still holding his megawatt smile. Yuuri at that moment knew he was not going to survive the flight.

“Hey! Aren’t you..?” The brunette would never know what he was because a flight attendant chose that moment to remind them to fasten their seatbelt since the plane was about to get to the runway for takeoff.

They both did as told and Yuuri found himself unable to pay any attention to the safety briefing, instead studying the little screen in front of him and grasping his book for dear life.

“Nervous flyer?” Victor whispered, making Yuuri jump in his seat.

The man nodded weakly without looking at him. Only 13 hours and 15 minutes more to go before Yuuri could go hide forever in an airport toilet.

They were soon gaining speed for takeoff and apparently Victor had decided to graciously leave him be in his panic, thinking that Yuuri was having problems with the flight itself and not with the fact that he was sitting next to his lifelong idol, inspiration and crush.

So they spent the first twenty minutes of their flight like that, Yuuri internally freaking out and Victor looking at him from time to time, while scrolling through the film in flight choices. 

As soon as the seatbelt sign turned off Yuuri quickly excused himself to go to the restroom and have some time to breathe and calm down. He could feel Victor’s eyes on him as he walked to the lavatory, like fire on the back of his head.

When he was safe inside of the toilet he ran some water, splashing it on his face.

He took a few deep breaths trying in vain to stop his hands from trembling and his thoughts running wild. After he had calmed himself he resolved he would survive this flight, even if he didn’t like the feeling. He just needed some of the medication his doctor prescribed him. Combined with some luck he would sleep through most of the flight, avoiding any further (and inevitable) embarrassment with Victor.

He sheepishly went back to his seat after asking for a glass of water to the cabin crew, retrieved his anxiety medication and gulped one down. 

“Are you ok?” asked Victor in a gentle voice.

“Y-yeah. Just nerves for the flight.” Yuuri said weakly, telling only a half truth.

“Oh I get it, can I do anything to help?” oh, Victor was nice. Really nice. 

“I’ll… I will probably fall asleep soon.” he answered, trying to smile and look at the other man.

“Sure, good idea. Long flight.” Yuuri thought that he looked slightly disappointed but surely it was just his imagination.

He was already feeling sleepy so it didn’t take long for him to doze off, his head against the window.

The next thing that Yuuri knew was being awoken by a warm hand on his arm.

Despite being on a plane he was extremely comfortable, the smell of a hearty cologne in his nose plus something else that he didn’t really recognise, but made him feel safe.

He snuggled closer to the strong shoulder he was leaning on, eliciting a soft gasp from the person next to him… and that’s when it hit him.

“Oh my God!” he exclaimed way too loud, making a few heads turn and gaining a few nasty glances.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to startle you.” Victor said, a little frazzled from his sudden outburst.

Yuuri didn’t even hear him. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to sleep on you!” he said hiding his now red hot face in his hands and feeling some drool in the corner of his mouth “Oh God..! I even drooled on you! Just let me jump off this plane real quick…”

To his surprise Victor just barked out a very unpoised laugh, so unlike the one he heard from interviews “Don’t worry, if I really minded I would have said something earlier  _ lapochka,  _ in fact, I thought it was really cute.” and winked at him.

Now Yuuri was blushing for a totally different reason. Did Victor  _ effing _ Nikiforov just called him cute?

“How-how long was I out?” The Japanese mumbled, trying to brush away sleep and embarrassment from his face.

“Just over two hours. You were sleeping so peacefully I almost didn’t wake you, but I think we are in for some turbulence and your seatbelt is off.” Victor pointed to the sign over their head that it was now on.

Yuuri fastned his seatbelt in a quick move and then managed to turn to look at the Russian with still his cheeks aflame.

“Thank you. And sorry.”

“No more apologizing,  _ da? _ There is nothing to be sorry for.” The man reassured him with a soft smile.

Yuuri, like the mess he was, found himself about to apologise for apologizing but he interrupted by a sudden jolt of the plane that made him whimper and grasp the armrests.

“Oh boy.” Victor said, still calm but clearly concerned about him.

“I hate this.” Yuuri whispered to himself.

“I’m not fond of it myself. Should I talk to you? Would it distract you or bother you?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Well let’s try, shall we? Something nice... What’s your favourite ice cream?” he suddenly asked.

“My…? My favorite ice cream?” Yuuri asked, confused. Another jolt and he yelped. Better think about ice cream. “Cookies and cream.”

“That is a good one! My favorite is chocolate, but I also love strawberry. Put together they are so good.”

“C-chocolate is always good.” said Yuuri, unsure.

“It is, isn’t it? Like chocolate cake, or truffles. Have you tried swiss chocolate? Great, now I’m craving it. Maybe they will have something with chocolate for dinner. Diet to be damned.” the russian rambled, his voice calm and soothing. 

He kept shooting questions and telling him small anecdotes that were making his inner fanboy squeal for the excitement for knowing more about his idol, while at the same time he discovered with delight that the real Victor, the very real man next to him, was kind of an overexcited goof. He liked him so much more than the untouchable legend. He was in serious trouble.

“I didn’t want to talk about ice skating because you might not want to talk about work, but I have to know: do you choreograph your programs yourself?” Victor suddenly asked, after talking about ballet.

Yuuri turned to look him in the eye, flabbergasted. “You know who I am?” asked incredulously.

“What do you mean? Why shouldn’t I know you?” Victor said, like he was actually confused by the question.

“Because… Because! You are Victor Nikiforov! The Living Legend! I’m just… Yuuri, a dime a dozen skater from Japan.”

“Correction, you are Katsuki Yuuri, Japan’s Ace.” Victor said seriously “I have been watching you since your senior debut, true you might need more work on your jumps but your PCS are incredible and I think you could definitely beat me with your step sequences.”

“What?! No way I could.” Yuuri said, shaking his head vigorously in disbelief.

“Yes way… not to mention your spins! They are as good as Lambiel’s. How could I not be a fan?”

“You?! A fan of mine? You have literally been my inspiration since I was 12, my room has no less than 15 posters of you on the wall and  _ you _ tell  _ me _ you are my fan?” he blurted out without thinking and when he realized he shrieked and hid his face again in his hands.

“Awww! Yuuri! I knew you were a fan but I didn’t know this much!” Victor said, sounding overly delighted by the fact that Yuuri was a massive creep. “I want your posters too! And now that we know each other you can sign them for me, will you?” Why did Yuuri believe that the man wasn’t even teasing him?

“This is not happening to me. This is a dream, I am dead in this plane and hallucinating.” he groaned.

“But why,  _ Yuuri... _ Do you often dream about me? I’m flattered.” Victor teased him this time. Or flirted? He was looking at Yuuri with a sexy smirk that made it really difficult for Yuuri to think straight.

A particularly strong sequence of jolts made Yuuri close his eyes and grasp the seat in front of him.

“Do you like dogs?” Victor suddenly asked, continuing his attempt to distract Yuuri.

“Dogs in general or Makkachin in particular?”

The russian man laughed “Both.” he said with a grin.

“Both yes. I have a toy poodle myself that I adopted after I saw a picture of you and Makkachin.”

“Oh my they are like a baby Makka. What’s their name?”

“Victor. Or Vicchan.” he said with a fierce blush back on his face.

“Uh? Oh. oh! You named your dog after me?” Victor said with his eyes sparkling.

“I was a child. I’m sorry it’s weird.”

“It’s amazing! I love it!” he stated, basically jumping happily in his seat. “I have to meet him.” added nodding seriously.

“My family takes care of him. They run an onsen in a small town in the south of Japan. You could visit if you want.” Yuuri said shyly.

“I will, if you are there with me.” the man stated, smiling at Yuuri with a soft blush over his nose.  _ Oh. _

“I would love to.” the brunette said smiling bashfully.

“Then it’s a date.” Victor said, sounding completely serious and pleased by it.

If, the next time the plane jolted, Yuuri grabbed Victor’s hand instead of the seat, it was completely involuntary. The fact that neither of them let go immediately after the seatbelt sign turned off was a completely different story.

As soon as they managed to fly out of the turbulence Yuuri started to calm down and, surprisingly, it was even easier for him to talk to Victor.

He discovered how smart the man was, not that he ever thought he wasn’t but he wasn’t expecting for someone as busy as him to find the time to read about philosophy and to have a great love for film and literature. To his surprise the russian man wasn’t the party animal the media painted him to be, often preferring a night in with his dog and a good book to a party. Yuuri felt like by now he should've known not to believe what most of the press said.

They were in the middle of navigating the films available and discussing the ones they liked, when the flight attendants started to roll out the cart to distribute their meals.

When they finally opened their boxes they revealed the pre ordered meals and Yuuri started to unceremoniously poke his rice with his chopsticks.

“This is… glue fried rice.” he said wrinkling his nose after putting some of that chewy, overcooked, goo in his mouth.

“It doesn’t look right, is the chicken at least edible?” Victor mumbled over his mouthful of salad.

“It’s chicken teriyaki. Nothing special but edible. Broccoli is just… steamed. But it’s mostly rice and it’s almost inedible. I should’ve ordered the chicken katsu sando bento like you did.” Yuuri said in a pout.

“Do you want some? At least you won’t be starving for the rest of the flight. That chicken and broccoli is not nearly enough.” Victor pushed his box closer to the Japanese man.

“No, no! I couldn’t.”

“I insist, I don’t mind sharing, otherwise I wouldn't have offered.” he said with a smile.

Yuuri looked at him reluctantly for a while but he then grabbed one of the four squares before thanking Victor again.

They finished the food and selected Friends from the screen in front of Victor, then proceeded to talk over it, just giving enough attention to know what episode was on. They both watched it multiple times but they both admitted they often liked to put it on tv to keep them company.

“I actually learned english with Friends, I used to practice by listening and reading subtitles aloud.” Victor admitted.

“Really? I would’ve loved to hear you while doing that.” Yuuri said with a grin.

The Russian man then turned towards him and with a sexy grin proceeded to say “Hey… How you doin’?” in an exaggerated american accent.

The other looked at him in a flustered blush for a second before letting out a loud laugh, folding himself on his seat, gasping for breath.

“What?” Victor grinned again, this time much wider, unable to maintain the facade “It’s a serious question. Am I not seducing you with my incredible charm?” 

“Oh, if you didn’t have me before, how can I resist the sexy Joey special?” said Yuuri while trying to catch his breath.

At that point, there were only a few hours left on the flight, the flight attendants started to bring their snacks around. They would arrive around dinner time in Tokyo so they weren’t served another full meal.

“Oh…” said Victor, looking deflated when he received his greek yogurt with a plate of strawberries instead of the chocolate icecream like Yuuri. “I forgot that I ordered this, damn me for trying to stick to my diet. I’m on my break and I like this but… but… Chocolate!” he then proceeded to pout like a child at his yogurt.

Yuuri giggled because he was coming to love the fact that his lifelong idol was some sort of childish human being sometimes. “Well If you want we can share, I wouldn’t mind some strawberries.” he said pushing his ice cream towards Victor.

“Really?!” Yuuri thought that, if the russian had one, he would be wagging his tail at him like a pup.

“Of course.” he answered in a big amused smile.

“Thank you! Oh I adore you. Please marry me.” Victor said before almost moaning around a spoonful of the ice cream he just took from Yuuri’s cup.

Yuuri blushed wildly but instead of hiding himself he stretched his arm in front of the other and took a fresh strawberry mumbling. “Take me out for dinner first…” as a joke.

“Oh, I intend to, believe me.” Victor said, smiling but not leaving any doubt that he was completely serious. “I was planning to ask you out before the flight ended so I hope that you weren’t kidding about taking you to dinner.”

Yuuri was completely breathless “It’s a date.” he said, looking in those clear blue eyes.

“Although, even if the food was terrible, we did spend an awful lot of time together, sharing meals.” he said smirking and stealing another spoonful of ice cream. “Soooo… can we consider it a second date?”

Yuuri laughed and shook his head, diving a strawberry into the chocolate. “If you put it that way, this is the second meal we’ve shared together, so it would be our third.”

“You are totally right, I guess we are almost boyfriends.” 

“Yeah, almost…” said Yuuri in a laugh, trying not to let his heart go too far ahead.

Their flirting and their teasing didn’t stop until the landing broke the mood.

Arriving in Tokyo meant that they had to go their separate ways and neither of them were particularly keen on doing so.

They didn’t leave each other's side until they had to separate for the passport checks and Victor had to join a different queue than Yuuri.

“You have my number, my instagram and my email right?” the russian man said, looking less and less happy to let Yuuri go.

“I do. And you have mine. We exchanged them like 15 minutes ago.” Yuuri said teasingly, even if he was not so secretly pleased by the fact that Victor wanted to make sure that they were able to keep talking. It was also comforting to know Victor was as unhappy as he was to let go.

“Sorry, I know I’m clingy. I just… I really like you, Yuuri.” he said, a bit shy for the first time since they met.

“I’m ok with it since I like you too.” Yuuri said blushing and with his heart going so fast he feared it would jump off his chest.

“Ok. Good.” Victor said in a smile before adding. “I wish the ice show I’m going to wasn’t in Osaka. There are plenty here in Tokyo, why Osaka?” in a whine.

“I know… but we have time, right? No rush.” Yuuri lied, when all he wanted to do was rush into things. He discovered that being next to Victor was addicting and made him bolder than he usually was.

“Right.” said Victor unconvincingly. “So… I’ll go. Message me whenever you feel like it. Please.”

“As soon as I get to the hotel.” Yuuri promised. 

“I’ll wait for it. See you soon.” said the man in a small pout, before turning around with a wave of his hand, starting to walk away.

Yuuri just watched him walk away and wondered when would be the next time they would be able to spend some time together. Soon they both would have to start back with training even if the Grand Prix series was a few months away. So if he was lucky enough they could have one of the qualifying events together around October or November… if they weren't, it could be as late as December for the final. If Yuuri qualified, that was. Too many ifs, too much time. He needed to know if this wasn't just in his head and they both built it all up because of the long flight together. He wanted to see more of what they could be.

"Victor!" He yelled and ran towards the other man, who turned around in a heartbeat of hearing Yuuri's voice and smiled oh so brightly seeing him run towards him.

"Are you busy after the Ice Show?" Asked Yuuri, his stomach in knots.

"Nothing that I couldn't or wouldn't cancel to spend time with you, for sure." and Yuuri just knew that he was gone, completely, for that man.

“I was thinking, it’s been a while since I’ve seen my family and… would love to go together next week. If you want to, I understand if it’s all a bit too s-”

He couldn’t finish the sentence because suddenly warm lips were on top of his and strong hands in his hair, grasping like he was the only thing holding him onto this world.

Yuuri kissed back enthusiastically and smiled once they parted before whispering directly on Victor’s lips “Was that a yes?”

“Mmh mmh. A very enthusiastic one.” 

They both giggled and kissed again, in the middle of the airport, with not a care in the world.

Yuuri always knew that Victor was the exception, that he could never want anyone like he wanted him, and he couldn’t wait to see where they could go together.

This was the start of the rest of their life and he couldn’t wait to be proved right.


End file.
